N&W in 1903 -- Wreck of the Cannonball

[NW Mailing List]

My previous postings of railroad articles that appeared in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph have been from a microfilm reel covering April 1, 1904 thru Dec. 7, 1904, that I have been reviewing for streetcar info on Bluefield WV and VA  and Princeton WV.  I simply come across so many interesting railroad articles that I want to share them with you.

The reel that I am now reviewing for the same purpose covers the BDT for Mar. 26, 1903 thru Mar. 31, 1904.  So, please note that the railroad events I am now reporting are from earlier dates.  This earlier reel has poorer quality reproduction, and I have had to pass over some seemingly interesting articles that were too illegible for me to transcribe, but I hope you like the ones that I am able to present, such as the one below.

Gordon Hamilton

INVESTIGATION SHOWS CONDUCTOR LAID DOWN HIS LIFE TO PREVENT WRECK OF N. & W. CANNONBALL

    After a thorough investigation of the accident by which Captain Thomas J. Wood, of Manchester  lost his life, it has been learned that he ran out to change a switch to prevent the N. & W. Cannon Ball [sic] from crashing into a string of cars on the side track.  The switch was changed just in time to prevent the wreck, and a second later the body of Captain Wood lay dead and mangled near the rails.
    Statements concerning the death of Captain Wood have been conflicting, and the facts attending his death were not known until today.  He was not standing in the middle of the track, as was at first reported, or he would have been ground to pieces.  He was on one side when he was struck.
    The Cannon Ball, the fast train between Norfolk and Richmond, was twenty minutes late.  Captain Wood evidently heard the train blow some distance and looked to see if the tracks were clear.  To his horror he saw the switch open and ran to change it.  In less time than it takes to tell it, the fast train, running nearly a mile a minute, passed the switch safely, knocking the unfortunate conductor to one side.  The engineer of the Cannon Ball does not remember striking the conductor.  He did not know that any one had been killed until the train reached Richmond.  The fast train makes no stops between Petersburg and Richmond.  It is operated by the Norfolk and Western railroad, and is known as one of the fastest trains in the country.  The trip from Norfolk to Richmond [some 108 miles] is made in a little more than two hours.

    
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
April 3, 1903

[The Cannonball operated over the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad between Petersburg and Richmond, so the accident apparently occurred on the ACL, and Captain Wood was likely an ACL employee.]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20071223/82268cc4/attachment.html>